It Has to be Yu

The Yanks have already taken care of their most pressing need for 2012 by re-signing CC Sabathia. Now, they need to be patient and see what their options are for rebuilding the bench and rotation. The big exception here is Yu Darvish. It's no secret that the Yanks have been scouting Darvish for years. I also think they have been pooling funds for a bid on Darvish. Darvish makes the most sense for the Yanks because all he will cost is money, and no players or picks. The Yanks don't look like they will be picking up any extra draft picks this year, so they need to protect the ones they have to the extent they can. Darvish is a stuff pitcher who has dominated his league for years, and is still young. He will be younger than Phil Hughes next year, for example. So getting him would give them a chance add an impact starter for years to come. Nothing wrong with that. The only uncertainty is the bidding process, but, hopefully, they've done their homework and will win the right to sign him.

Other than that, they just need to find this year's Chavez, Jones, Garcia and Colon. They can do it. Go Yanks!

Rangers Clobber Sharks

The Rangers played their best game of the year, and beat the Sharks 5-2 with Marty Biron in the net. Artem Anisimov and Derek Stepan each scored their first goals of they year, and they had really been "missing." Captain Cally scored 2, and McDonagh added another! Just a very complete game, with more of the kids pouring it on, than just Gabby and Richards. Brandon Prust got into an early fight, and that might have been what got them going, or it could have been the specter of Avery's return. Christensen had two assists, and prior to tonight, he hadn't really done a thing. Dubi also had two assists, but has yet to score a goal. This is a game to build on. Go Rangers!

CC Stays!

The Yanks avoided a prolonged chess match with Team Sabathia by extending CC today. The extension only adds one year to his current deal, and 30M of total value. That is an insanely good deal given the market place CC might have enjoyed had he opted out. Now, this is almost a good as him not threatening to opt out at all. If he can control his weight going forward, he should be effective for 5 more years. Whether or not he will be ace quality, remains to be seen. Needless to say, great job, Cash! Go Yanks!

CC Opting Out?

The Yankees have apparently made CC a new offer, but reports are coming out that he will opt out tomorrow to test the market. I think this will turn out to be a disastrous move for CC if he really does opt out. The fans will not forget it.

This is How Bad the Rangers Have Been

They re-called Sean Avery.

Giants Win Sluggish

Eli Manning once again played like an NFL MVP, but the playcalling, lack of a running game and several egregious drops, kept the Giants behind for most of today's game. Manningham, Nicks, Jacobs, Ballard and others all had drops. The Giants should have mauled this Miami team. But the Giants once again played down to their level of competition. The Giant D didn't show up at all till the second half, and for awhile it was looking like another Seattle game. The schedule gets tough starting now. We're going have to be able to run the ball, play defense and catch the ball to get through it. Manningham and Cruz scored touchdowns. Go Giants.

Cash Deal Done?

Rumors abound that Brian Cashman and the Yankees have agreed to a new deal. Let's hope they are true. And let's hope he has secured more support for his amateur scouts and budgets. In another great break for the Yanks, the Angels foolishly hired Jerry DiPoto instead of Yankee draft master Damon Oppenheimer. Hopefully, the Yanks will do something for Damon that makes him harder to poach. He has revolutionized the drafts and keeps refining and refining the approach.

In other Yankee stuff, they appear to be negotiating with CC Sabathia to head off an opt-out. I like CC, but have not understood his leverage at all. He's really only had about 2 or 3 months of pitching like a superstar in his Yankee career. But he has been paid like a superstar for all three years of his current deal. Now, I will give him a bit of a mulligan for this year because the switch to the 6 man rotation basically coincided with his fall from absolute dominance.

I think the PR cost for CC would be severe if he opted out, as well. As unfair as people have been to ARod, CC opting out would open him to ARod comparisons, and that's not the side of the fans any player should want to be on. Let's hope they get something done. I'm not too worried about adding years to big lefties. They tend to last, even through knee stuff or back stuff.

Can't Upload Pics Right Now

But man, was that European Trip mishandled. This is a listless team. Their two goals tonight came from the D. The forwards aren't passing well and their shots are once again missing the mark - constantly. They'll need to do much better. Go Rangers!

Rangers Win

Feds scored his first goal of the year, on a power play, then Ryan Callahan scored the game winner on another power play. This isn't to say the power play looked good. It didn't. And the Rangers still didn't look good. But, they won with Biron, and that's got to be a positive. Still, Torts seemed to be benching and switching up lines throughout, and they still have not looked like last year's team. Richards has yet to get going, and thus we have not established the super line we were hoping for. And the Cally, Dubi, AA line has been an offensive disaster thus far. Their next game is at home, hopefully, we'll start to see some cohesion there. Go Rangers.

Rangers Get Shut Out

Yikes. No O. And Hank left in the 3rd with cramping. It looked like Renney was coaching both teams. We need better O. Go Rangers!

McDonagh!!!

Talk about a possible breakout player, Ryan McDonagh just scored an OT goal with .5 seconds left to give the Rangers a huge win! Wow. Once again, it seemed like the Rangers weren't getting anything from the refs, though Gabby did score a PP goal in the first, and Prust scored his first shorty of the year. The team killed a lot of penalties and Hank was superb. Incidentally, McDonagh had inadvertently screened Lundqvist on the Flames game tying goal. The Rangers skated hard, especially in the third and OT, but just didn't produce a lot of chance. But in their mad rush with a few seconds left, McDonagh slapped one in. That gives him 4 points through the first 5 game, I think. That's nice production! Go Rangers!!!

Hank!!!

Henrik Lundqvist had one of his greatest games as a Ranger as he had 40 saves as he and the Rangers shutout the Canucks 4-0! The Rangers were on their heals and Hank was the only thing that kept it 0-0 through 2. Then the Rangers erupted for 4 straight goals in the 3rd. Rupp, McDonagh, Boyle and Gaborik all scored. McDonagh also had a brilliant assist as he set up Gabby and is showing the offensive upside he had always shown before his 40 game NHL audition last year. Wow! But Hank was unbelievable, not only saving 40 shots, but many of them were GOOD shots. Just a fantastic performance. The team finally seemed to get its legs back in the third and ended up winning what had been a tight game decisively. First win of the season, now let's start racking them up. Go Rangers!

Giants Win Going Into the Bye

Play-calling was an issue. Wide Receiver drops were an issue. And once again the Defense gave up huge plays. But the Giants still won, and they did so because Corey Webster had two huge second half interceptions, Ahmad Bradshaw topped 100 yards and scored three touchdowns, and JPP blocked a 4th down pass to end the Bills last gasp drive. Eli was outstanding again, but it didn't turn into any TD passes, but he had at least one dropped. Huge win, and hopefully they'll get some players back after the bye. And hopefully the coaches will do a better job on play-calling and defense. Go Giants.

Rangers Lose in Regulation

Too many penalties, and too little even strength time and the Rangers are now 0-1-2 for 2 points to start the season. Stepan played on the line with Gabby and Richards and they looked very dangerous, Stepan chipped a puck to Richards who sent a long pass to a breaking Gaborik for the Rangers first goal. Unfortunately, the Rangers could only score one more, blowing several other opportunities. They need Staal and Sauer back. Still, they will get over this slow start and be a good team this year, so keep the faith. Go Rangers

Giants

I was a little busy after the game Sunday, so sorry for not talking about it then. Save for what looks more and more like a hot streak in 2007 that brought us the Super Bowl 42 Championship, and the first 9 or so weeks of 2008 when the Giants were legitimately elite, they have been no different under Tom Coughlin then they were under Jim Fassel. On any given week they have been able to beat anyone or lose to anyone, without rhyme or reason. Stranger still, that no matter how the roster has turned over, they have been a pure parity team since 1997. Win some, lose some. Get to the Superbowl once in awhile. It's really ponderous. Sunday they looked uninspired and uncoached. Fewell alternates Fox like performances with Sheridan like performances. It's truly perplexing. And the team has been loaded with talent for the past several years. Let's hope they get on a hot streak soon, or it might be time to shake up the etch-a-sketch. They are drafting too well to be this inconsistent.

Whither Cash?

Brian Cashman's Yankee GM deal is up, and Buster Olney reports he and the Yanks will wrap up a new deal in the coming weeks. This is as it should be, of course. People see Cash as having an easy job because of the enormous revenue advantage the Yanks have over other teams. But Yankee fans realize it is not an easy job, that there is always pressure to win now, while there continue to be owners who sometimes go against his recommendations, as the Steinbrenner's did what they signed Soriano last winter. Cash has walked the minefield with aplomb and damn good results.

Since Cash became the GM in the 1998, the Yankees have only missed the post season once. That's amazing given the number of players, and great players he's had to replace at times.

What has really been impressive is the way he has won of late while re-building the farm. I hope he insists on bigger draft budgets in his new deal. As we've seen, the Yankee scouts are finding impact preps, even as late as the Yanks are always drafting, and they should be able to lock them all up every year. Damon Oppenheimer and his scouts deserve more than the Yanks are giving them to work with.

I'd also really like to see him secure bigger budgets for International Free Agency. When George was sentient, there rarely seemed to be an IFA budget, though there were idiotic draft budgets until Cash started opening those up in `05 and `06. Over the past few years we've learned of corruption in the IFA system they had in place mid-decade, but it seems with Mark Newman and Donny Rowland now running IFA, they should have a budget commensurate with their ability to find kids. Rowland is in the scouting hall of fame. They have been finding some bargains, but they shouldn't just be bargain hunters down there. They haven't given out a big bonus since they signed Gary Sanchez, and he looks great. A pennywise budget is the only reason they didn't get Sano the same summer, even though they have found some intriguing kids with the pennies they've been working with. So, they should make a bigger commitment going forward.

Billy Eppler, who heads pro scouting has also done a terrific job, and he may deserve as much credit as Cash does for the Chavez, Jones, Garcia and Colon spree of last winter. Really savvy moves that helped get the Yanks to the playoffs. Chavez may be retiring, so, hopefully they have another trick up their sleeve for the 3rd base. They'll also have to re-solve the rotation as they seem to have to do every year.

In all, Cash has the front office in very good shape, and the Yanks would be wise to not only lock up Cash, longterm, but also make sure Oppenheimer and Epler won't be easily poached. Anything can happen in a five game series, but nothing that should effect the Yankee FO. Re-sign Cash, give him bigger amateur budgets. Go Yanks!

Rangers Lose Shootout

In another game that was marked by the Rangers inability to pass particularly well and score goals, the Blueshirts once again went to overtime and ended up losing a shootout. Hank was brilliant and Brad Richards tied the game at one with about 2 minutes left in the third. Ryan McDonagh, who is going to be a great player, had the assist. As disappointing as two losses are, the Rangers did pick up a point in each, as they continue to play without Marc Staal. Now, I'm not one that thinks Staal is a superstar or going to be one, but his absence forces the team to try to compensate and they've done so by splitting up their best pair: McDonagh and Sauer. I think they will get better, but they really need to work on their passing, and they need to either get Staal or trade for another top 4 defender to play with Girardi.

Rangers Lose Opener

The Rangers lost a tough one today in Sweden. But they did show lent of effort and had they gotten a couple of bounces, they would have won. Cally and Gabby had the goals. Dubi had a goal called back. It may take awhile, but it looks like we will be goof even though we lost.

Yankee Season Ends

The Yankees couldn't generate 3 runs given myriad chances tonight, and thus they are done. Let's hope some things can be figured out before they play again. We'll look at the offseason once we have some distance from this. Unacceptable. And I seriously doubt CC Sabathia, who gave up the winning run tonight, can get any more money anywhere else.

Erixon On the Way Back for the Opener

It seems that Tim Erixon's demotion to the Hartford Whale was just to get him work in smaller NA rinks while the team was off playing on the bigger ice surfaces he is used to. Erixon is flying to Sweden to join the team for the opener. Bell and Bickel (as well as Avery) have cleared waivers. The Rangers may or may not sign former Ranger Paul Mara, but not in time for the opener. Marc Staal is still out. McDonagh has moved up to play with Girardi. Lots of moving pieces, thus far, but I'm glad we'll at least have one rookie on the squad. 48 hours till go!

Yanks Clobber Tigers, Send the Series Home!

The Yanks got a crucial and outstanding start from AJ Burnett tonight. It started out scary when he walked the bases loaded in the first, but he ended up pitching 5.2 innings of 1 run ball, that the Yanks just had to have. And the Yankee bats finally started clicking, even batting around in the 8th. ARod had two late hits, and Tex even started looking better. Curtis Granderson had one great catch and one awesome catch. On the great catch in the first he may have taken a poor rout, but he had to leap to catch it. In the sixth he stretched out to save AJ runs with the bases again loaded.

Soriano got the final out of the 6th and pitched a strong 7th. Phil Hughes was hitting 95 as he mowed them down in the 8th. Boone Logan struck out the side in the 9th. Yanks win 10-1!

Jesus Montero made his playoff debut pinch hitting for Posada in the 8th and struck an RBI single. He singled again in the 9th.

The series goes back to New York for the Thursday Finale! The Magic is Real! Go Yanks!

Jacquian Williams is a RINGER

One of the surprising stars of the 3-1 Giants has been the play of rookie linebacker Jacquian Williams. One of three Giant 6th rounders this year, Williams has been a tackle machine and shown the ability to cover and blitz as well. Thus far he is looking like the Giants first impact LB pick since they took Jessie Armstead in the 8th round of the 1993 draft. In short, Jacquian Williams is a ringer.

Williams played junior college ball with Jason Pierre Paul and then joined Paul at USF for Paul's one year there. Williams stayed another year, but Giants scouts stayed on him. Marc Ross even said there were things about Williams that reminded them of JPP, though they play different positions. Indeed, the ridiculous athleticism and relentless effort they both display should be apparent to all.

This is just another example of how smart teams draft. As Giant draftniks know, the Giants' weakspot over the years, since they switched from the 3-4 to the 4-3, has been been finding quality linebackers. Previously, whether they were 4-3 or 3-4, they could always find great linebackers. But after drafting Jessie in `93, there have been no big time 4-3 LBs drafted by the Giants till, possibly, Williams.

So what were the Giants doing wrong? One of the things there were doing wrong was drafting 3-4 linebackers or DE's like Torbor, Sintim and Tracy trying to convert them. This has not been terribly effective, and Sintim looked stiff and unathletic in the Giants 4-3. But smart teams also learn from their mistakes.

Just as the Yankees over the past two or three years have discovered that they could find Yankee Bats among draft eligible preps, the Giants have now discovered they can find great fits for their 4-3 by focusing on kids who actually played it in college.

I'm not sure who the Giants South Florida scout is these days, but he is doing a great job, and the Giants should keep buying USF freaks in their drafts. It's paying off.

Avery Waived

It has happened. Today, the Rangers have waived Sean Avery, perhaps ending one of the strangest player tenures in team history. When the Rangers first acquired Avery, he was a breath of chippy air, to the soft, veteran laden Renney era Rangers. His brand of gritty, chippy and borderline dirty play made him a huge garden favorite. But as time went on, and the farm started to produce more physical and scrappy players like Callahan and Dubinsky, and trades yielded players like Prust, the things Avery used to bring to the Rangers became the rule instead of the exception. He never seemed to be on solid footing with Coach Tortorella, and over the past few years he's seemed less interested if not less skilled. Troubled though he was, Avery was a signifcant part of the transition from the Jagr era Rangers to the Farm Driven Ranger era.

Additionally, the move will add cap room in case the Rangers want to add another D or something else as the season moves on.

Yanks Lose Game 3

CC Sabathia didn't have it tonight and the homeplate ump didn't help. Yanks will have to win tomorrow behind AJ Burnett to stay alive. Go Yanks.

ELI!!!!!!!!!

Eli Manning returned to Arizona and lead yet another amazing 4th Quarter comeback to shock the Arizona Cardinals, and Giants fans everywhere. The Giants actually overcame 2 10 point leads by scoring 3 fourth quarter TD's. Jacobs scored early in the 4th when it was ruled Ballard's knee had touched before the ball crossed the goal line. Then the Cards scored a TD and a FG and the Giants were down 10 with just over 5 minutes left. Eli lead two lightning quick drives, highlighted by TD passes to Ballard and Nicks, and the Giants took the lead with about 2:30 left. Seemed like too much time, but a batted passes by JPP, a sack by Osi, and PD by Corey Webster on the Cards' last gasp 4th down pass, and the Giants won.

Just an unbelievable game where they overcame two terrible turnovers, and got two sacks apiece from Tollefson and Osi. Amazingly Wells and Fitzgerald each had over 100 yards, but the Giants somehow won. Nicks and Cruz were clutch in the 4th quarter and made big play after big play. Aaron Ross had a big punt return to set up the third TD of the 4th quarter. Hakeem Nicks had 10 catches for 162 yards and a touchdown. Bradshaw had the first Giant TD. Unbelievably huge win. Go Giants!

Yanks Lose Game 2

Yanks just lost game two of the ALDS. They were down 2-0 after one and didn't really come alive till the 8th inning. CC pitches next and we obviously must win that with Verlander pitching game 4. Go Yanks!

Update: Apparently, it will be CC vs. Verlander in game three.

Yanks take Game 1

In the continuation of last night's rain-out, Robbie Cano went off! The weather was keeping balls in, but he still doubled off the top of the wall in Left, doubled to Center and hit a Grand slam to right. He finished with 6 RBI. Wow. Ivan Nova was also impressive, pitching 6.1 innings of 4 hit ball. He left with the bases loaded in the ninth and Ayala let in two runs, so 6.1 innings of 2 run ball. Great work. Freddy Garcia goes tomorrow, let's hope his guile is turned on full blast. Go Yanks!

Ranges Trim Roster

The Rangers sent Hegelin, Erixon, Bourque and others to the Whale of the AHL today, and returned Dylan McIlrath to juniors. Stajcer hasn't been cut yet, but he will be. So as of right now, no rookies have made the team. And apparently it's Avery vs. Christensen for the last forward spot. They're keeping 8 D's at least while Staal is questionable. Stu Bickel has apparently beaten out Tim Erixon, at least to start the season. MDZ seems to be back in ood graces.